(UPBEAT MUSIC) Auckland ` Tamaki Makaurau ` the City of Sails, the place desired by many. And you can see why ` the beaches,... Not bad! ...the shopping, the restaurants, the people. But there's the other stuff ` (DRAMATIC MUSIC) the traffic,... Come on! ...the house prices,... Whoa! (SIREN WAILS) ...the noise, the people! Aucklanders are packing up and moving out every day. And this show is about that. I did it, and I never looked back. Come with us as we follow escapees swapping the pavement for the paddocks. For richer, for poorer; for better or worse, we are moving out. We're just winging it, really. We probably made a big mistake. We're not keeping a door open in Auckland, and there's no fallback option. Copyright Able 2017 (UPBEAT MUSIC) Glendene is the classic West Auckland working class suburb. Belinda and Luis have a beautiful bungalow here. They've got a couple of kids as well who are the result of a classic love story that started on Belinda's OE in Portugal. (FLOWING GUITAR MUSIC) I was working in a big dance show in Portugal, and Luis was working in the show as well. It was summertime, and it was all good fun and it was a really beautiful place. And so I stayed in Portugal for about a year and half and then sort of realised that, uh, maybe I'd like to bring this Portuguese guy home with me. (CHUCKLES) So I did that, and we came back to New Zealand and we got married, and that was about 15 years ago. So here we are. This summer romance has gone on for a quite a while now. He pakiwaitara aroha motuhake tenei i whakawhanau mai ai nga tamariki tokorua ` Tiago raua ko Charlotte. He momo a Tiago no tona papa, engari ano, mo Charlotte he momo ke no tona mama. Show me your costume. It's really good. OK, guys. Come on, guys. I got a job at a place called The Dance Studio. We've got around about 500 students, and that's really work that means a lot to me, and I do love it. And fall to the back. Whoa! That was good. Yes, yes. Nobody kicked each other. It's really difficult to work in a job or a field where everything's in the afternoon and at night-time, because those are also the times that I want to be spending with the kids. Ready, go. Kua hurihia te ngakau nui a Belinda mo te kanikani ki tetahi turanga mahi, a, e manawanui ana tona hoa rangatira, a Luis, ki tona kainga rua ki Aotearoa nei. After a year and a half or something, maybe not even two years, I started my own business. A, he mahi kari putiputi ke te pakihi ra. Tokorua nga tangata whai putea; ka whai hararei hoki raua, he pai te oranga mo raua; a, i aua ra, kaore i te aro atu ki te whai whare motuhake. Na Belinda tonu a Luis i hari mai ki Tamaki Makaurau, engari i ahua rereke i aua wa ra. He ngawari nga utu whare; kaore i te tino muia i te tangata; a, kua rere ke tera ahuatanga inaianei. (BROODING MUSIC) The whole thing of traffic, traffic, traffic, and then a place to park the car. For example, Silo Park downtown ` they have these awesome things there. But in order for us to get ourselves down there, to battle the traffic to get there, to find a park... It never stops. It's just crazy all the time. And then when we get there, it's really really crowded, rushing all the time. 'Come on, guys, let's put clothes on now, cos in five minutes we have to be there.' Engari ehara i te mea hunga motoka anake te raruraru nui. Kua piki ake te utu mo te oranga o te tangata. Hard slog started to feel like that was what normal life was. And we started to go through each day ` each hard-slog day ` thinking, well, this is it. Is this just how life is? A, he pai tonu te oranga i nga utu a-tau e rua; engari ka pehea ina mukua ai tetahi o aua utu a-tau? Luis had an accident and slipped a disc in his back. And that injury had quite a negative impact on his work. (SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE) I thought I was fine to go to work again, and so I went back to work. Uh,... worst mistake of my life. He pera rawa te kino o te wharanga ki te tuara o Luis, te taea e ia te paku neke. I ona ra he whitawhita tonu te papa nei; inaianei, kei raro ke e putu ana. Been six years in the military, and I've never been in so much pain. And for us financially, things did get hard, and it was sort of at a stage where we were really scraping and scratching just for the essentials. Belinda was` I could see her levels of stress. It was pretty much surviving. You know how kids are. They ask, 'Oh, Mummy, Daddy, can we have this? Can we have that?' And the answer was always no. There wasn't enough for everything ` not even clothes. The levels of happiness ` very low. Probably non-existent. This is the big nightmare for any young couple trying to make it in the big city. Ki te hinga te kaiutu nama ki raro rawa, a he mate nui kei te haere. We had to take a minute and say, 'Actually, that's not how we want to live. 'That's not how we want to raise our kids.' We wanna let them be kids while they can. Luis sort of, in a discreet way, said to me, 'I'm ready to move out of the city. 'I would like to get out of the city. So whenever you're ready, just let me know and I'll start packing.' Kei te tapuae tuatahi te taumaha nui, ina te whakatau nui kia puta i te makete hoko whare. Engari ke, na te wahi ngaro i tauawhi ai. (FLOWING GUITAR MUSIC) When we were in the process of making a decision, thinking to ourselves, 'Should we? Can we? Is this the right thing,' something really amazing happened. Without a word of a lie, right in the middle of the conversation, the phone rang. Sorry, what agency are you from? Oh, yeah. Are you feeling the chill in your home? You could be eligible for a 50% subsidy towards the cost of insulation. Ah, much better. * Mo Belinda raua ko Luis o Tamaki Makaurau, kua to te ra ki te whakaaro o te noho ki te whaitua nui o te motu. The whole thing of traffic, traffic, traffic, and then a place to park the car. He wharanga kino ta Luis i rongo ai, a i mate te tokorua nei ki te whiriwhiri ano he aha te huarahi pai ma raua. Is this just how life is? He kari motuhake ano ta raua. Ka nui hoki te wariu o to raua whare no te hokotanga mai. Na whai ano, i mama noa iho te whakatau kia hunuku ki wahi ke. When we were in the process of making a decision, thinking to ourselves, 'Should we? Can we,' the phone rang. And it was a real estate agency. 'We're gonna be in your neighbourhood and just wondered if you would like to have 'a free valuation.' The phone call came, so... is this a sign or something? (LAUGHS) OK, let's do it. I said, 'Yeah. OK, sure. Maybe this is the right first step.' And then after that, it was just like the floodgates were opened. Mo Belinda raua ko Luis, kotahi ana ke te wahi ma raua, a he nui nga korero taunaki i taua wahi. So we have made the decision to move to Whangamata, on the Thames-Coromandel Peninsula. It was, to be honest, not a very hard decision. My sister lives there now. Oh, he could rain-check it. Granite? Granite. My mum has a house there, and our family all sort of spends time there during the year. (LIVELY ACOUSTIC MUSIC) Ko Whangamata ` he hapori pakari; ngawari te utu o nga whare; me te rerehua hoki o nga oneone tapu o konei. So, I've made it down here to Whangamata to catch up with Belinda and with Luis to see how they're progressing along the lines of buying a new house. Ah, Whangamata. It's shaping up to be a beautiful day, and this... is Mum's house. (RISING ELECTRIC GUITAR MUSIC) Hi. Kia ora! (CHUCKLES) Tamati. How are ya? Nice to meet you. Belinda. I'm Belinda. This is my husband, Luis. Gidday, mate. How are ya? Good to meet you. So you're thinking that this might be a place that you might want to set up, right? Yes. I mean, it is the logical choice for us, if the main goal is to get ourselves out of Auckland, and we really wanna get` would ideally love to be near the water, somewhere where there's already a family base. There's my sister; she's got kids. The kids have got their cousins here. It's a natural choice for us to certainly seriously look at. Have you looked at anywhere in particular? What are you thinking? We have a choice to make ` either buy a section and look at building new, or look at an existing house that's already established. So the choice is gonna be really based on price. So why don't we get the ball rolling and go and have a look at some empty sections but also some houses that are up for sale too? Sure. Sounds good. Cool. Let's do it. Let's go shopping. Come on, Tiago, let's go. We're off. (RISING MUSIC) So, here's a cross-section of empty sections and some existing houses. Now, with the empty sections, it looks like the prices range from about 230, down here in this new subdivision. Uh, this one here, a bit more pricey. But up on the hill, 650,000. Uh, where does that fit in your budget? Um... (BOTH LAUGH) Well, not the 650,000, for sure. We'll definitely be looking more sort of around the 200, if we were gonna go for a section. So this one here, $825,000 on a 750m2 property. I would be very surprised if 825 was in our budget. (LAUGHS) Are you surprised at that? Because, I mean, you see those kinds of prices in Auckland. So do you think there is this perception that you move out of Auckland, that everything gets cheaper? Absolutely. That is the perception, I think. But at the same time, you know, if it's right in front of the beach, you know... You like that, eh? I do. I do. (LAUGHS) But, you know, if we could get a section for 200 or something, something like that, we could at least try to build a house our way. So it sounds to me as if you've kind of already decided that you'd like to start with a blank canvas, actually buy an empty section and build on top of it, especially with some of these prices. If we buy an established house, is that`? We can't buy something that we're gonna need to do DIY on for the rest of our lives. I look forward to seeing what the outcome is. Kaore i roa, kua kitea e Luis tetahi paraka whenua i Whangamata i te Ipurangi. He haurua te utu o nga kainga i Tamaki i te utu o enei mea kua kitea e ia. Miharo! Very similar with the views that we have in Auckland, eh, honey (?) Oh, sure, sure, really similar to Auckland (!) (LAUGHS) A little bit more fresh air. Is there a boundary mark there? Yeah. Wow. Look at all that space! This is gonna be my living area, and look at all that. It couldn't be any more perfect than this. This is gonna be your playground in here. This is gonna be your play area out here. Koia kei tenei paraka whenua mo Belinda raua ko Luis. Kaore raua mo te kotiti noa. Ka tere rawa to raua tuku tono, a na wai ra i whakaaetia. Very excited (CHUCKLES) when I hear that my sister was gonna move down. It can get quite lonely down here, and having more friends and family wanting to make the move is really awesome. (LAUGHS) Heoi ano, e kaute haere ana nga ra a Auntie, a kaore ona iramutu i te hihiko pera ano i a ia. When I first told her, she started crying straight away, saying that she was gonna miss her friends. And the house as well. She didn't wanna leave the house. She was talking to me, and then she suddenly said, 'How would you like it if we moved to Whangamata?' And I suddenly went, 'Whoa!' Our 4-year-old had the most monumental tantrum that I have ever seen. Go, grumpy Tiago! (LAUGHS) It took some time and a bit of changing the subject at some stage as well, with some tricks with little chocolate here, a little chocolate there, for him to start talking about it (LAUGHS) and move on to something else. He pera ki etahi atu o Tamaki, kua watea a Belinda raua ko Luis kia haere i mua i te hokotanga o te whare. Really, I just feel excitement. I don't really feel sad. Is that bad? No. (CHUCKLES) We are ready ` ready to go. And we're not gonna look back, for sure. Our city kids are about to become beach kids, and that'll be great. If there's a traffic jam, that will be even better, cos I'll be sitting in it going, 'Ha-ha. It's my last traffic jam.' All sorted? All sorted. Whoo-hoo! (HAPPY MUSIC) (HORNS HONK, BLARE) Inaianei, kua tau ki te whare hararei o te mama a Belinda ki Whangamata, kua timata ano te whakatakoto i te mahere rautaki mo te whare hou. It's gonna be three bedrooms, but it will also have an office; the garage will be attached. And in general, the size of the house, it's double the size! Hopefully the dry weather will help to give plenty of good building days so that we're not hindered by rain. It's gonna be really big and nice and new. Yeah, I'm really excited. There's so much to think about. There's so many more aspects to it than you realise. I think it's gonna be in three days' time, something like that. Hopefully they'll start breaking ground, and, yeah, the beginning of our... the beginning of our dream. Kei te tino pai te haere ` mo tenei wa. He ahuatanga ano ka pa mai. (THUNDER RUMBLES) (FOREBODING MUSIC) * (UPBEAT MUSIC) (MOODY MUSIC) Kua poroporoakitia e te tokorua nei nga taumahatanga o Tamaki Makaurau, and they've said hello to the worst storm in 50 years to hit the Coromandel. (THUNDER BOOMS, RUMBLES) MAN: Oh, it's taken the line down. REPORTER: In Whangamata the downpour turned the golf course into one giant water hazard. It would be getting now close to 500 mil. REPORTER: The wind and rain battered the region hard overnight. There's just been so much water. We've had a year's worth of water within the last three or four weeks. REPORTER: North of Whangamata, roads were submerged by floodwaters for the second time this week, and there's more rain on the way. E toru nga awha nui i pa mai ki te takiwa. A hei te rangi tonu, nga whakaaro hanga whare ki Whangamata e iri ana. (THUNDER RUMBLES) BELINDA: The Coromandel's really had a bashing at the last three or four weeks. The bad weather actually made things slow down quite a lot, with the building process. You know, it's only normal, I guess, but, yeah, it's been hard. It's been a hard couple of weeks. Katahi te raruraru nui ko tenei. E kore nga kaikamura e mahi i te ua, heoi ano, e matatau ana te iwi o Tamaki Makaurau ki te whakatarewatanga o nga mahi. A ka whiti tonu mai te ra, kua kitea e Belinda tetahi turanga mahi. O'Hagan Visique optometrist. Belinda speaking. 'I got a job doing maternity cover at the optometrist,...' Maybe just come five minutes early. '...and that's a really nice way to integrate into the community as well.' Kua timata hoki a Belinda ki te whakaako i nga karaehe kanikani ki te whare hapori. Been really lucky to get, actually, some dance classes with the school this year, which is fantastic, cos that's just, you know, what I love to do. Heel turn. I before E, except after C. 'I feel like I'm being a mother, a parent. I'm part of the family again.' It's Thursday afternoon. Well, it's 5.30 at night. And so I start teaching at 6. And... I'm just making dinner before I go so that everyone can have dinner while I'm gone. Six months ago, I would've been doing the cooking dinner probably at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock in the morning and then going to work and then staying at work for the whole time. Rather than actually have time to come home, be amongst it ` get it done now. It's much more family-friendly this way. Unfortunately I'm still recovering from the bac injury. We decided that we'll wait until the whole process of moving is done, and then I'll go back to the workforce, hopefully. (SQUEALS, LAUGHS) We have enough small opportunities to add up to a good balance. He tatari noa ta Luis mo tetahi turanga mahi, ka taea e ia nga mahi i te kainga. (SHUTTER CLICKS) A, kaore i roa, kua timata te hanganga mai o te whare. (UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC) I like how you can see the shape of it with the` wrapped. Nobody ever said that building a house was easy or fast or cruisy. Before, when it was empty and it was very early stages, we used to say, 'Oh, should we go out to the section?' 'Yeah, let's go to the section.' And now we say, 'Oh, should we go out to the house?' It's fun. It's OK. It's getting done, and we can see the progress. (EASY-GOING GUITAR MUSIC) Never imagine ever in my life that I would be living in a brand-new house. And we're gonna be mortgage-free. Mortgage-free! Perfect. (CHUCKLES) Wow. Check out that view. That's the estuary. No wonder they've moved here. Kia ora! BOTH: Hi! (LAUGHS) Come in. Oh. Ooh. It's not yet finished, but it's not raining. (BOTH AGREE) Yes. It's a plus. I've heard you've had quite a bit of it. Yeah. Um, it feels like a really long journey. (BOTH LAUGH) You just have to look at all the positives, when you can see them. There's the floor. The wooden floor that's gone in is beautiful. The kitchen is gorgeous. The bricks look amazing. There's so many good things about it, and we just really have to try and work on focusing on those pluses and keep moving forward. Yeah, take a moment, though, just to keep remembering ` there's the view. Yes. This is your new view. It's a little different from the one that you had up in Auckland. Kei te hiahia korua etahi mea mai i Tamaki Makaurau? Is there anything that you miss from Auckland? There's not really anything about the city itself that I miss, because we do have everything we need here, and we have access to everything. Kei te pehea ou tamariki? Kua tau raua? Are they content? Are they settled, the kids? They... They're great. They love it. It's really nice that their cousins are just down the road. And I think kids are really adaptable anyway. What does it feel like knowing that Whangamata used to be a holiday place, and now it's actually home? How does that change your world? It's the best! (LAUGHS) I mean, it is. I do still... Sometimes I'll be... I'll have my lunch break and I'll go and I'll sit at the beach, and I will just sit there and look around and go, 'I live here.' E rua haora te tawhiti mai i Tamaki Makaurau ki konei, ki Whangamata. And while the journey is obviously not over just yet, this Kiwi whanau have got their eyes firmly on the prize ` a good old summer barbecue on the back deck, surrounded by their friends and whanau, in their new home. (RISING MUSIC) Captions by Glenna Casalme www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 He mea tautoko na Te Mangai Paho.